Dermalogica has taken an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach to exfoliation, and as usual with their products, the results backfire as they make several poor formulary choices. Let’s begin by discussing the thermal reaction alluded to in the product’s name, which is nothing more than a high school student’s science class project. When two of the ingredients in this product, polyethylene glycol and baking soda, are mixed with water, heat is released (you start the reaction when you splash your face with water). The fleeting heating sensation may psychologically feel good, but it isn’t doing anything to help your skin (if anything, making your skin too warm can lead to problems).

The real exfoliating component of this product consists of abrasive magnesium oxide crystals, which provide manual exfoliation as you massage them over your skin (just like any scrub). This also includes an AHA (lactic acid) and BHA (salicylic acid). Although the latter ingredients are present in a potentially functional amount, the alkaline pH of this product keeps them from exfoliating, not to mention that they are rinsed down the drain before they can have any effect on your skin.

Dermalogica included some emollient plant oils to protect your skin during the scrubbing process, but they also added several fragrant oils and fragrance chemicals that do nothing but irritate skin. Rosewood, lemon peel, and clove oils are not what you want to expose your skin to, especially when it is about to be scrubbed. One more point: There is a lot of retinol in this product, but this antiwrinkle ingredient is wasted in a product that you rinse from your skin.

According to company history, Dermalogica products came into being because founder Jane Wurwand could not find a spa-oriented skin-care line that met her criteria. She was dismayed that so many skincare lines aimed at the aesthetics market had products that contained alcohol, artificial colors, fragrance, mineral oil, and lanolin, ingredients he believed had a well-documented history of problems. That's true for fragrance and alcohol (and artificial colors to a lesser extent), but mineral oil and lanolin have no documented history of causing skin problems.

The line is positioned as a no-nonsense, no frills take on skincare, with clinically-inspired packaging that does protect its beneficial ingredients from light and air. Speaking of ingredients, Dermalogica does include a lot of beneficial ones in its skincare, though there are a number of formulas in the line that also make the misstep of including potentially-irritating fragrance ingredients.

For more information about Dermalogica now owned by Unilever, call 1-800-345-2761 or visit www.dermalogica.com.

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According to company history, Dermalogica products came into being because founder Jane Wurwand could not find a spa-oriented skin-care line that met her criteria. She was dismayed that so many skincare lines aimed at the aesthetics market had products that contained alcohol, artificial colors, fragrance, mineral oil, and lanolin, ingredients he believed had a well-documented history of problems. That's true for fragrance and alcohol (and artificial colors to a lesser extent), but mineral oil and lanolin have no documented history of causing skin problems.

The line is positioned as a no-nonsense, no frills take on skincare, with clinically-inspired packaging that does protect its beneficial ingredients from light and air. Speaking of ingredients, Dermalogica does include a lot of beneficial ones in its skincare, though there are a number of formulas in the line that also make the misstep of including potentially-irritating fragrance ingredients.

For more information about Dermalogica now owned by Unilever, call 1-800-345-2761 or visit www.dermalogica.com.

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